Process of making wood plates.



PATENTED MAR. 17, 1903.

I. A. MANUEL. PROCESS OF MAKING WOOD PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1902.

no' 110mm.

WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES FRANK A.

PATENT FFIJCJE.

MANUEL, OF RIOHFORD, VERMONT.

PROCESS OF MAKING woon PLATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,999, dated March17, 1903.

Application filed September 22, 1902.

T0 or whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK A. MANUEL, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Richford, in the county of Franklin and State of Vermont,have invented a new and Improved Process of Making Wood Pie-Plates andSimilar Articles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to a process of making wood pie-plates andanalogous articles of circular outline, as will be hereinafter fullydescribed.

In manufacturing pressed wood pie-plates the common method resorted toby persons in the trade is to first cut the green veneer into squaresheets a little larger than the diameter of the article desired, andafter cutting these sheets in the form described they are placed onracks to dry and shrink. It is necessary that the wood veneer shallshrink about three-fourths (i) of an inch to the foot before the stockis in proper condition for pressing so as to manufacture pie plates.After cutting, drying, and shrinking the stock the square sheets are cutto the desired shape by a round die, which produces a blank of veneerhaving the proper size and shape to' be placed in a press, which impartsthe desired configuration to the veneer-stock and completes the article.1 7

Practical experience has shown that the veneer from green stock cannotbe first cut into round or disk-like shape and thereafter subjected toheat and pressure in a press for the manufacture of pressed circularplates, because the veneer splits and cracks by shrinkingt-o such anextent that the plates are worthless.

The present improvement is designed to overcome these objections and toenable the manufacture of good commercial veneer articles to be carriedon economically and with despatch.

In the present invention I prepare the green or undried veneer in such away as to utilize the natural shrinkage of the wood to produce acircular piece of veneer-stock after the same shall have becomethoroughly dry. According to my method the green veneer is cut inelliptical form to produce a thin sheet, the major axis of the ellipserunning at right angles to the grain of the wood and in the di- SerialNo. 124,405. (No specimens.)

rection oftlie line of shrinkage. After cutting thegreen veneer in theelliptical form described it is allowed to dry, or it may be dried inany suitable apparatus, and during this drying stage the wood naturallyshrinks crosswise of the grain, whereby the veneer assumes a circularcondition when thoroughly dried and shrunk, so that it is available formanufacture into articles of circular contour, such as pie plates,without splitting and cracking.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in both figures.

Figure l is a plan view of the green or undried piece of veneer-stock inthe condition in which it is cut from a log and before it is dried andshrunk. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the circular blank of the veneer-stockafter it has been thoroughly dried and shrunk, said view illustratingthe condition of the blank ready for manufacture into a pie-plate or anyother suitable article of circular configuration.

A designates the green or undried piece of veneer. This veneer-stock iscut in the form of an ellipse the minor axis of which (indicated by thedotted line a) is equal to the diameter of the dried and shru'nk blankB. (Shown by Fig.2.) The major axis of the elliptical piece of stockA isindicated by the dotted line b in-Fig. 1, and this major axis of thestock extends crosswise of the grain of the wood, said major axis bexceeding in length the diameter of the dried and shrunk blank B in Fig.2. To produce the veneer-stock A, the log of wood is out into sheets ofveneer by a rotary or any other veneer-machine, and from these sheets ofveneer the elliptical shapes are cut in. any preferred way and by anysuitable type of machine. After cutting the piece of the veneer-stock inthe elliptical form shown by the blank Aof Fig. 1 the stock is dried inany suitable wayas, for example, by placing the elliptical pieces onracks or by subjecting them to heat in any suitable form of apparatus.During the drying operation the wood in the veneer-stock shrinkscrosswise of the grain and in the direction of the major axis 1), thelines of shrinkage being indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. When the ICOelliptical pieces of the veneer-stock are thoroughly-dried and shrunk bythe elimination of the moisture which is present in the green orsaturated piece A, the blank takes the circular shape shown by Fig. 2,thereby producing a circular blank B, which is suitable for manufactureinto circular wooden articles, such as pie-plates and the like. Thecircular dried and shrunk blank B may be treated, subsequent to theshrinkage thereof, in any suitable way or by any preferred type ofapparatus in order to convert the blank into an article having thedesired configuration. The circular dried blank B in the manufacture ofpie-plates is subjected to heat and pressure in suitable dies of a pressor other machine; but articles made from blanks which are prepared inaccordance with my invention can be rapidly and economically madewithout splitting or cracking, as other prior articles are liable to dowhen made from green pieces of stock.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent The process herein described of making circular veneerarticles, such as pie-plates,which consists in cutting a green or;undried flat veneer into elliptical form, the major axis of suchelliptical veneer running crosswise of the grain of the wood; thereafterdrying the veneer and shrinking it to bring the blank into circularoutline; and then subjecting the circular shrunk blank to treatmentwhich produces the article of desired contour without splitting orcracking.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRANK A. MANUEL.

